QUILTsocial Issue 17

Social Distancing – the perfect
Pam Voth
time for a hexies quilt pattern
Staying connected – quilting mentors and
social distancing
Fabric for my hexagon table runner with
matching Gütermann thread
Paper hexies ready for Fabric with Fiskars
Hexie Maker
Basting the fabric to the cardboard hexie
I decided to approach social distancing and this
time of isolation with an attitude of gratitude. I
have lots to be thankful for – that I had started my
own stash of fabrics – some may call it a ‘hoard’
but, just like that, it went from hoarding to being
prepared!
I also decided to live in the learning/growing zone
of this experience, expanding my learning from my
last baby quilt and look for opportunities and ask
myself, “When I look back at all, what do I want this
moment to have been?”
Luckily, we have SO MANY ways to stay connected
so, through the magic of Facebook messenger
and Zoom and texting, I still managed to stay
connected to my quilters and, now, my dear friends.
I had expressed a desire to create a spring table
runner and prior to isolation, we headed out
to shop for some spring fabrics. I have now
experienced several ‘quilting group’ fabric shopping
trips that include great advice, lunch, laughs and
connection and friendship.
In a bit of pre-isolation wisdom, I even purchased
a hexagon-maker I found NOT in the fabric section
of the craft store (as we were chastised by the
salesperson – apparently hexagons are not real
quilting???) but instead, in the scrap booking/paper
craft section. In this lesson: Don’t let anyone – ever
– make you feel bad about your project. If you use
batting, it’s quilting.
So, with my fabrics, purchased and some from
my stash, I consulted my online sources for ideas
(thanks, QUILTsocial).
My quilting mentor guided me into the world of
hexies, both a time consuming and satisfying way
to spend days, weeks, months! At the moment,
time is definitely my friend and besides – I was
enthralled with this new project idea. I began by
making cardboard hexies…using my hexi-maker.
I decided that I would make 10 flowers and use
the butterfly fabric for the background. I picked
7 fabrics for the flowers and began cutting and
ironing my fabric into hexies. I looked up on
YouTube how to baste them, picture my sad face
because I couldn’t just go over and ask my mentors
to show me. Sometimes, however, it’s good to
figure things out for yourself and then brag about it.
I think for most of us, we miss the physical
closeness of the groups we had during ‘real’ life –
although this is feeling pretty real at the moment…
46 OUILTsocial | issue 17
Basted hexie becomes a flower